October 23, 2012

What's on My Nightstand?

I really enjoy What's on Your Nightstand? because it provides me with a place to keep track of my reads. Quite honestly, I had tried to make just a basic list of my books, but failed to keep up with it. This was a quiet month on the book front.

The Princess Bride, by William Goldman. Adventure. Good guys and bad guys. True love. As a teen and in my early 20's I saw the movie many times. I remember wanting to read the book. Then I forgot about the book and remembered again. Thankfully, Carrie at Reading to Know remedied the fact that the book is difficult to find. I thoroughly delighted in reading 95% of the book. Apparently Goldman was the screenwriter for the movie. That is why the book and movie are so incredibly close in lines and plot.

I did not know that Goldman only pretended to abridge S. Morgenstern's book. It was a very clever story-within-the book trick. I just didn't care for Goldman so much in his rather lengthy introduction and,specifically, how he spoke of his wife. Apparently this was all fictional, but still irritating.

Really, The Princess Bride is a great book for the young and old alike (though there are a couple of curse words), and I definitely recommend it. (The cover image here is not the same as my cover.)

The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom, by Slavomir Rawicz. Wow. The polish author was sentenced, unjustly, to a Soviet prisoner camp. He and six men of various nationalities escaped the camp only to walk thousands of miles through frozen Siberia, the Gobi Desert, and more. They faced not only the extreme weather, but also constant starvation. Death was often just around the corner, and sometimes they had to face it. Once I got started, I was captured by the well-written story of Rawicz. I definitely recommend it! (Infrequent mild language.)

On my Kindle Fire:The Mormon Faith of Mitt Romney, by Andrew Jackson. This has been an eye-opening book about the Mormon faith. The author explains in the introduction that he wrote the book because Romney has not spoken of his faith and people do, indeed, want and need to know. In full disclosure, he also states that if Romney gets the presidential nomination against Obama (he did), he will vote for him. This is a book about faith, not politics, though it is the same as it would be for any person...faith does impact a person's choices-including as President. For those who think that the Mormons and evangelical Christians are basically the same faith, this book compares the two. (For the record, they are oh-so-very-different.) This is thoroughly researched and cited. The book is more about the LDS church and less about Romney. I'm glad to have this book because of how it brings an incredible amount of research to the reader in one book. The book does not impact my voting in November, but it is beneficial reading.

Audio Book:The School of Essential Ingredients, by Erica Bauermeister. Each chapter focused on a different person taking a cooking class. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't an incredible book. It does have 4.5 stars on Amazon, so maybe I was just distracted in my kitchen? (Some mild language in this one, too.)

Next Month:Jewel of Persia, by Roseanna White. I have wanted to read this one for years (read why), and chose it for the Reading to Know Book Club for November's selection. (See below for my low-entry giveaway of this!)Harvest of Rubies, by Tessa Asfar. I read another book of Tessa's and learned I did, in fact, enjoy biblical fiction-when done right. I look forward to this one.A Woman's Wisdom: How the Book of Proverbs Speaks to Everything, by Lydia Brownback. It's one that I look forward to, especially having spent the last several months in Proverbs.

10 comments:

I've had The Princess Bride on my TBR shelf forever! I didn't see the movie until I was an adult, but I love it! Your review makes me want to read the book. :-)

You're forgiven re:P&P. ;-). I think it took several readings for me to begin to warm up totally to it. Since that initial adolescent reading, I've gone on to read several of Austen's other works (so,e thanks to a graduate English class on the English novel), and I definitely think appreciation grows with familiarity.

I was surprised and delighted by The Princess Bride, too (except for a bit of language and a couple of situations). I was totally caught off guard by the book within a book approach and thought it was very clever. I hadn't seen the film until I was an adult but I did see it before reading the book.

I was surprised and disappointed that I didn't like P&P, either. I did get a copy of it at an audiobook sale recently, so I am going to try that venue some time and see if I like it any better going through it again. I did set out to read all of Austen's books after that, though, and loved Persuasion and Northanger Abbey.

My husband is from southern Idaho, which has a high LDS population. In fact, when he and another guy from his church when out visiting, people always seemed to automatically think they were Mormon. You're right, Mormonism and true Christianity are two very different things. They might use some of the same vocabulary but mean different things by it. I had a very good online Mormon friend for several years, and we got into some interesting discussions. It was sad because she was so sweet and so moral, but totally off-base on some foundational truths. But politically, I think Romney is the better candidate. Some Christians don't want to vote for a Mormon, but as several have said, "I'm not voting for a pastor, I'm voting for a president."

You asked what I thought about Wildflowers of Terezin. I'm not into it very far yet but I am enjoying it so far.

Well, P&P isn't my favorite either. I don't know if that's because it's been hyped or because I just didn't LOOOOOVE it like others have. I mean, I very much enjoy the story (and the 6 hr. A&E production) but it's not my Favorite Book Ever.

As you know, I am voting for Romney. Honestly, I'd rather have a man as president who has convictions and HAS to hold to them than a Christian who has so much liberty they sway with whatever political winds are blowing. It's a might frustrating. And a sad statement as well. But aside from this, yes, I agree Mormons and Christians are quite different and this book sounds interesting.

Great list! My book club read The Princess Bride recently and there were a lot of mixed emotions about the whole book within a book concept. I loved it personally (though I agree his fiction version of himself was very unlikeable) but some of our other members actually didn't like the book at all because of it.

I don't think I'll ever read The Princess Bride. I can't get excited about it and I detest the film. The School of Essential Ingredients did not do much for me either and here I wondered if something was wrong with me!

I absolutely loved Harvest of Rubies. I hope you enjoy it.

You asked about the organzing book and I can't really recommend it. It just wasn't outstanding, which is what I'm looking for.

The Mormon Faith... sounds interesting to me, precisely because it is more about Mormonism than about Romney. I know a little about the founding of Mormonism and its early tenets, but not much about the current practice of it.